Randy Boyd purchases Knox Rail Salvage property for $6 million

Randy Boyd, the state's economic development commissioner and the owner of the Tennessee Smokies minor league baseball team, recently purchased about 7 acres just east of the Old City from Knox Rail Salvage for $6 million. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)

Local businessman Randy Boyd recently purchased about 7 acres just east of the Old City from Knox Rail Salvage for $6 million. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) (Photo: Caitie McMekin)

Randy Boyd (Photo: Theresa Montgomery)

State economic development commissioner Randy Boyd, who owns the Tennessee Smokies baseball team, last week purchased about 7 acres just east of the Old City from Knox Rail Salvage for $6 million.

The president of the Sevier County-based team — which left Knoxville more than a decade ago in search of a new stadium — won't say whether the land could be used for a future ballpark.

“Jenny and I have a passion for the Old City and its development,” Boyd said in a statement Wednesday morning. “We have been and continue to be very opportunistic buying property there for redevelopment.”

Boyd's wife owns and operates the Jig & Reel restaurant, 101 S. Central St., in the Old City. The Boyds own the building in which the Lonesome Dove restaurant is located, at 100 N. Central St. Tim Love owns and operates Lonesome Dove.

Boyd has now acquired the entire city block between Jackson and Willow avenues and Florida and Patton streets and two adjacent properties.

Mike Frazier, owner of Knox Rail Salvage, which sells discounted construction material, said he had been negotiating with Boyd for 18 months over the property at 400 E. Jackson Ave. before deciding 'with a great deal of trepidation' to sell the property. The land is in the industrial area known as the Magnolia Warehouse District.

Joel Piper, Frazier's son-in-law and a principal at Knox Rail Salvage, said he exchanged emails with Boyd on Tuesday about the deal.

'He asked us to be discreet, but it's an investment property (for Boyd),' Piper said.

Piper said Boyd did not discuss with the family his plans for the property. Boyd did not return calls or email Tuesday requesting comment.

Smokies president Chris Allen said Tuesday he had no comment about the land purchase.

Boyd purchased the Chicago Cubs' Class AA affiliate in June 2013 from Jimmy Haslam, who had bought the Cleveland Browns football team less than a year earlier.

The Smokies left Knoxville's Bill Meyer Stadium in 2001 for a new park at Exit 407 off I-40, drawing local fans and tourists from Sevier County attractions. The lease on that stadium runs through 2025; the team's affiliation agreement with the Cubs runs through 2018, according to Baseball America.

Boyd also owns the Johnson City Cardinals, a Class A Rookie League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bill Lyons, deputy to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, said the city has had 'general informal conversation with (Boyd) for the last number of months about development in the Old City.'

Lyons declined to comment further, including when asked whether a baseball stadium had been discussed.

Property records show Boyd paid $1 million on the land and borrowed $5 million to cover the purchase. The property was purchased by RR Land LLC, a limited liability company fronted by Boyd, who signed the deed.

In the meantime, Piper said Knox Rail Salvage will continue to lease the Jackson Avenue property from Boyd for $1 per year through December 2017.

Boyd had originally inquired about the company's main store on Magnolia Avenue downtown, but the family declined to sell because that location accounts for about 85 percent of the company's revenue, Piper said.

Piper stressed that not only will the business stay open, but it recently had its most profitable year in about seven years and has plans to expand. The company has two contracts on other properties in the area — one downtown and one north of downtown, he said.

Boyd, who founded the Knoxville-based company PetSafe, purchased the two adjacent parcels, at 622 E. Jackson Ave. and 650 Willow Ave., for a combined $875,000 in March.

In addition to his Old City restaurants, Boyd also bought a vacant lot at 300 E. Depot Avenue in February for $225,000 and turned it into an urban garden with plots that residents could lease.

He said at the time he was inspired by the Fenway Victory Gardens, a city park in Boston that leases plots to local gardeners near Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox.

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